Contracting authorities have a broad discretion to abandon a procurement procedure. They may do so for various reasons, including where an error has been made in the procedure, or simply where the economic situation has changed, making it expedient to annul the competition.
It is the case however that a decision to abandon a procurement is subject to review and must comply with the fundamental principles of equal treatment and transparency. While a number of challenges to annulment decisions have been made, the cases show that it will be very difficult for an applicant to show that a decision to collapse a procurement was unlawful.
Nonetheless, many challenges have been brought to decisions to collapse or abandon a procurement and an analysis of 15 cases from 5 jurisdictions is included below.
Issues about the reasons for a collapse can also arise where, in the face of litigation, the contracting authority collapses the procurement and there may be a debate about whether the claimant is entitled to a costs order.